A Dialogue on East-West Views of “Cosmopolitanism”
摘要
Cosmopolitanism examines the relationships among nations, groups, or individuals and how they can be unified morally, culturally, economically, and politically as a global community. Through this “cosmopolitan” approach, we verify and justify the relationship between international justice and universal justice, finally leading to the concept of Universalism. Universalism may not be as implausible as some contemporary philosophers believe. We may regard global justice, cosmopolitanism, and Universalism as “Three-in-One” or “Threefold Truth,” interrelated, interacting, and transforming one another. This article will examine the transformative modes of Chinese cosmopolitanism through a historical comparison. Generally, Universalism and cosmopolitanism are the two highest moral ideals of traditional Chinese thinkers. In traditional Chinese culture, the human spirit, social ideals, ethical values, aesthetic standards, and reasonable norms should be universal and applicable to everyone. Confucianism, Daoism, Mohism, and Buddhism all utilize natural forces or entities to explore the origin, cause, nature, relationships, functions, and interactions of the universe.